Serena Williams entered the 2017 Australian Open still at her peak at age 35, tied with Steffi Graf at 22 grand slam singles titles and ranked World No. 2. She had reached seven of the past nine grand slam finals, winning five of them. It would not be a surprise should she pass Graf and win her seventh Australian Open.
What would be a surprise was her announcement that came in April. Williams was taking the rest of the year off because she was pregnant with her first child. The tennis world quickly did the math and figured out Williams was six weeks pregnant when the Australian Open kicked off.
Williams plowed through the field in Melbourne without dropping a set. She beat her sister Venus in the final, 6-4, 6-4 in what turned out to be their final meeting with a grand slam title on the line. Serena passed Graf for the most women’s singles titles of the Open era, retook the World No. 1 ranking, and eventually gave birth to her daughter Alexis Olympia on Sept. 1.
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